Devoured By Fire
by AllTheSins
Summary: It was a routine job for our superheroes. Just another burning building. But when Johnny fails to save a victim, confusion and tension inhabit the top of the Baxter building. Will the Fantastic 4 be able to face a new threat that rises from the shadows?
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOGUE**

A cold, November evening. The sun had set and dark blue colors painted the sky. It was peaceful, calm and quiet, except for a frosty breeze which was playing with her long, dark hair.

A faint smile curved her lips as she bent down and lay flowers in front of the large tombstone.

Albert Wyatt Mary Wyatt

1954 - 1997 1955 - 1997

"Happy birthday, dad," she whispered.

Exactly 10 years have passed since her parents' tragic demise.

"I wish you were here," she continued quietly, "I know you would be proud of me."

There was a slight pause and she opened her mouth to say something more when a distant siren interrupted her. Her grey eyes swept across the graveyard towards the source and every muscle in her body tensed up - it was a fire truck.

* * *

**CHAPTER 1**

"How's Frankie doing?" Susan Storm's voice reached his ears as she sat on the couch next to him.

"I don't know," he replied distractedly, completely focused on the TV screen in front of him.

Sue frowned, "You are still with her, right?"

No answer.

"Johnny?"

"Johnny?!"

"JOHNNY!" Sue boomed, making the Torch jump up slightly.

"No, I'm not still with her and it's none of your business!" Johnny yelled, frustrated that he couldn't watch the show in peace, "Now, will you please? I really wanna see this."

With an annoyed look on her face, Sue turned to the TV and saw... Monster trucks.

She sighed, "You will never grow up."

Just then an alarm sound of a fire truck zooming past the Baxter building was heard.

Johnny grunted, "Again?! Don't these people have anything better to do than to play with matches in their free time?!"

His sister was already on her feet, not paying attention to him and taking off her sweats to reveal a tight blue suit she was wearing underneath.

"Reed! Ben! Come on!" she yelled for the rest of the Fantastic Four.

Reluctantly, Johnny picked up the remote control and turned off the TV. "This better be really important," he mumbled, approaching the opened window and jumping out of it, without even hesitating a second.

"Flame on!"

* * *

"Holy crap..." Johnny Storm uttered as he landed at the scene.

The five-story brick building in front of him was engulfed in bright flames. A part of it had already collapsed. The whole area was surrounded by paramedics, firefighters and policemen who were talking to the people evacuated from the building. At least five jets of water from the fire trucks were trying to extinguish the fire, but without use.

Sue immediately created her force fields in attempt to stop the fire from spreading onto the other buildings in the neighborhood. Ben took on himself to search the collapsed part of the structure for survivors while Reed stretched up to pull out a man screaming for help from the fifth-floor window.

"No, you don't understand!" a hysterical woman sitting in the back of an ambulance car was shrieking at a fireman who tried to calm her down, "My daughter! She's still in there!"

Johnny turned to her, "Where?"

"Third floor, second apartment from the left," the woman sobbed, "Please, save Angela..."

"Don't worry, ma'm, I'll get her out," Johnny assured her, flashing his dazzling smile right before he ran into the burning building.

* * *

He could feel a tingling sensation as the flames caressed him, but no burns were left on his body. This was completely normal to him. No heat, no fear.

Carefully, he climbed up to the third floor on what was left of the stairs and looked on the left: there was no wall. Only a huge space where two apartments once were, now swallowed up in flames. His blue eyes traveled across the hallways and former rooms in search for the girl. His heart was pounding hard in his chest - What if he doesn't find her in time?

"Mommy!" a barely audible voice came from his right.

Locating the source, Johnny rushed to a bathtub which was upside down and lifted it up in one effortless move. There, underneath it was a little girl, maybe four years old.

Johnny threw the bathtub away and looked down at her.

"Angela?"

The little girl nodded, obviously scared to death. Johnny smiled to comfort her, but his smile quickly fell as a snapping noise came from above him.

He barely had time to look up: a large, wooden beam broke through the ceiling. It crashed on him with such force that Johnny heard his ribs crack, followed by a mind-numbing pain in his chest. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, much less try to break free. His vision became blurred as he struggled for air.

As if from a great distance he could make out a faint silhouette of the little girl, surrounded by flames which were slowly but surely closing in on them both. He couldn't help her. Letting the pain wash over him, Johnny couldn't fight anymore and let himself slip into darkness...


	2. Chapter 2

**NOTE: **I just want to thank you all who read and reviewed the first chapter! I'm trying to establish myself as a writer here on and that means a lot to me. :) Also, I know that 'Length is a thing to work on,' lol, but I have so little time to write, since I'm in my last year in high school and need to prepare well for the exams that will get me into the university I want. So sorry for the shortness of chapters, but I will strive to make them longer, I promise! giggle In the meantime, enjoy this one...

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* * *

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**CHAPT****ER 2**

The first thing he felt was that pain again, only this time it wasn't so intense. Slowly, with a groan, Johnny opened his eyes.

He was lying in a bed he had never seen before. All that surrounded him was white: the sheets, the walls, the armchair next to his bed... And there were all these needles and tubes coming out of his arm. It didn't take long for him to realize that he was lying in a hospital.

The door of the small room opened and Susan walked in, carrying her morning coffee, completely unaware that her brother was awake.

"Hey," he greeted her.

Susan gasped and dropped the plastic cup, spilling the brown liquid all over the tiled floor. But she didn't even notice that.

"Johnny!" she shrieked, throwing herself at him.

"Ow! Sue! Watch the ribs!" he grumbled as she embraced him tightly.

"Sorry!" Sue pulled away at once, but couldn't hide her happiness, "Oh my God, you're awake!"

"No kidding?" Johnny laughed.

"You were unconscious for five days," Sue explained, suddenly turning serious, "We thought-"

But she didn't finish the sentence as the door opened once more and Reed came in, followed by Ben who was carrying a teddy bear not much smaller than he was.

"Hey, you're up!" Reed smiled widely.

"I brought you a little present," Ben growled, putting the toy on the foot of the bed.

Johnny stared at it for a couple of seconds, "That's... Great, Big Guy," he decided against telling the Thing what he really thought that was, since he couldn't endure any more injuries right now.

"How are you feeling?" Reed asked as he came closer, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder, "You had us really worried there for a few days."

Johnny frowned, rubbing his forehead, "I'm fine, I guess. Just- What exactly happened?"

"You don't remember?" Sue asked.

"I remember the building being on fire..." he recalled, "And this woman... Oh, God," his eyes went wide, "The girl! Angela!"

He tried to sit up, but the pain in his chest shot through his whole body and he had to lie back down with a lot of moaning.

"Easy, kid," Ben said, "You shouldn't strain yourself."

"But-"

"The girl is fine," Reed cut him off.

"Fine? How?" Johnny asked. The two of them were only seconds from being swallowed up in flames. Of course, it wouldn't hurt him, but Angela...

Reed exchanged a nervous look with the others, "We... Don't really know."

"She came out alone," Sue continued, "From the front entrance. And, after a while, when you didn't show up we went in there to look for you. And found you trapped and unconscious."

"But fire was everywhere..." Johnny was confused.

"We thought about it. A lot," Reed said, "And the truth is, there's only one logical explanation to how she managed to get out."

Torch's mind raced fast for a couple of seconds until it came to a halt in front of the exact same explanation Reed had in mind.

"Someone else was there," Johnny said, his throat dry.

* * *

"_...third case of this kind of death in the last two weeks. Reportedly, the victims were found in their home, apparently unharmed except for an expression of pure terror on their faces. A source from the police department stated that it seemed as though they were literally scared to death..._" 

"Scared to death?" Ben repeated the reporter's words.

"But otherwise unharmed..." Reed followed his own trail of thoughts, "I don't like the sound of that. Good thing Johnny came home today. We'll need him too, if something comes up."

Sue just snorted.

"I told him not to go out, but noooooo..." she fumed, sitting on the couch with her arms crossed, "Mr. I-know-everything just had to go partying tonight! Well, I'm telling you, if something happens, I won't be the one who's saving his ass!"

* * *

"Is it true you were in the hospital for three weeks?" one of the girls asked. 

"Did they operate on you?" the other one ran her fingers across his chest seductively.

Johnny smirked, tightening his grip around their waists while they waited for a cab, "As a matter of fact they did. Why don't we go someplace private so you girls can check out my... Scars?"

They giggled, "Mr. Storm!"

"Taxi!" he shouted and a yellow car stopped in front of them, "Ladies..." he opened the door for the girls.

Just as he did, something incredibly hot zoomed over their heads out of nowhere. Johnny ducked to avoid it.

"What the...?"

The bright object continued speeding away from them, leaving a fiery trail behind it. Johnny observed it for a couple of seconds before making a decision.

"Flame on!"

Completely forgetting about the girls in the cab, he let fire spread across his body and followed the strange entity.


	3. Chapter 3

**NOTE: **Wow, 7 reviews! I'm so happy! Thank you! I would like to present you with Chapter 3 which is longer than the previous two chapters put together! Yay, slowly overcoming my 'length issue':) Please continue reading and reviewing, it means a lot tome, even if you have something bad to say. I always like to hear what I can improve. Thanks again!

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CHAPTER 3**

"What is that thing?" Johnny asked himself as he raced to catch up with the fiery being.

By its straight path and unchanging speed he guessed that it didn't even notice it was being followed. Which made things much easier for him. He clenched his hands in fists and gave out a bit more energy to gain momentum. After just a few seconds, Johnny managed to fly next to the entity.

His expression changed to reflect his shock as he realized that this 'unusual thing' was actually a-

CLANG!

Wrapped up in his astonishment, Johnny didn't see a traffic sign in front of him and flew directly into it.

"Ok, that hurt..." he grimaced as his fire faded away a little, but he remained floating in the air. Quickly shaking off the throbbing in his head, he started burning normally again and launched himself after what he was chasing.

Up front, the fiery being was coming closer to him as he increased his speed.

"HEY, YOU!" Johnny called out, without even thinking.

The thing stopped in mid-air. Johnny's heart flew up to his throat and he slowed down.

He was right.

Hovering right in front of him was another person on fire, not much differently than himself. Only this was clearly a woman.

For a few incredibly long seconds they just stared at each other. Johnny wasn't sure whether she even knew who he was, though her expression showed little surprise by his presence. The woman frowned and closed her eyes. Her fire roared so intensely that Johnny found himself squinting under the sudden brightness. Then she was soaring away again.

"Wait!" he yelled, shooting after her.

They swerved in between buildings endlessly. Right, left, right, left, left... She was so fast that Johnny had difficulties keeping up with her, much less catching her. People underneath them began to notice something very strange going on over their heads: Two Johnny Storms flying about?

_That's it! Time to stop this race, _Johnny thought in frustration, hearing a chopper coming closer from above. He gritted his teeth and gave out all of the energy he had left.

It worked.

Johnny finally caught up with the persistent woman and, realizing nothing he could do with fire would hurt her, he grabbed a hold of her strongly and plummeted into the Hudson River.

The moment they hit the cold water a thick cloud of vapor spread over the place they fell into. Below the surface, Johnny loosened his grip around the woman, allowing her to struggle free except that he was still holding one of her wrists tightly.

She was gasping for air when he surfaced. A ray of bright light shone directly at them from the helicopter that was now circling above and Johnny finally had a chance to take a good look at her.

It didn't even take a second for him to put her on his 'Extra hot' list of girls. She wasn't much older than him, if even that. Her hair, though wet, was long and dark, framing one of the most beautiful faces he had ever seen. Her whole posture gave out this 'bad girl' vibe. Especially her cold, grey eyes that were now glaring daggers at him.

"I just want to talk," he said, raising one of his hands defensively because he was still gripping her wrist with the other.

"You could've just asked," she spoke for the first time, quite angrily, "There was no need for getting me soaked."

"And whose fault is that?" Johnny retorted. "If you slowed down, I wouldn't have been forced to do that."

The girl just snorted.

"What's your name?" Johnny wanted to know.

She glared at him for a moment before answering, "Aidan."

Johnny nodded, starting to swim towards the shore and pulling her along with him, "Well, Aidan, lets take a little walk so you can start explaining how the hell you have superpowers!"

The quayside was packed with reporters who started yelling questions and flashing their cameras the moment Johnny and Aidan got out of the water.

"Who's your new friend Johnny?!"

"Is she a member of the Fantastic Four as well?!"

"How come she has the same powers as you?!"

For the first time in his life, Johnny wanted them to be gone.

"Just ignore them," he muttered to Aidan as they made their way towards the Baxter building.

"I thought you liked attention," she told him, rather bitterly.

The crowd of reporters followed them slowly, still shouting.

"I do," he replied, not being able to hide a satisfied smile, "But one thing I've learned during these three years as a superhero is that my sister will literally kick my ass if I give away any more important information to these sharks without her permission. Nice costume, by the way," he added, noticing what she was wearing.

Aidan was dressed in a uniform similar to his own, except that this one was dark red colored and didn't have the Fantastic Four sign on its chest. It fitted perfectly to her body and Johnny couldn't help but notice how incredibly attractive she was.

"It's the only thing I can wear when burning," she said, "Everything else just turns to ashes."

"Trust me, I know how you feel," he replied.

* * *

Ben's stomps were heard long before he appeared in the doorway of Reed's lab. 

"What's going on?" he asked, "The virtual lady said it's important."

"Take a seat, Big guy," Johnny said.

Ben sat in his specially designed chair which Reed made to hold his weight. Mr. Fantastic was sitting next to him, placidly interested in what Johnny had to say, while Sue had her arms crossed and an I-am-not-amused look on her face. She was still annoyed by the fact that her brother went out when she specifically told him not to.

"Ok," Johnny clapped his hands, "First of all, I want you to meet my..." he looked over at Aidan questionably. She was standing right behind him.

"Acquaintance," she helped him.

"Acquaintance," he repeated, "Aidan."

Sue just nodded curtly.

"Nice to meet you, Aidan," Reed said while Ben gave a little wave, "Hey."

"Now," Johnny continued, "I think you all should see what she can do."

He sat down, leaving only her standing in front of the Fantastic Four. Sue's expression changed slightly as she raised one eyebrow to reveal her curiosity.

Aidan eyed each of them individually for a second before letting out an exasperated sigh. She then raised her right fist so that everybody can see. In one quick motion, she opened her hand and it caught fire.

Reed's mouth fell open. Sue, who expected something plain like a handstand, couldn't hide her own surprise and her eyes became somewhat wider than usual.

"Great, another Tinkerbelle," Ben grunted.

"Amazing," Reed stood up and came closer to Aidan, fixing his eyes on the flames over her hand, "Just like- Johnny, come here."

Johnny stood next to Aidan.

"Do that," Reed told him with an expression of wonder on his face that showed everyone he was already zoned-out in his world of science.

With the same fist-then-opened-hand move, Johnny's right hand started burning as well. Reed took a step back to take a good look at both fires.

"Exactly the same," he concluded, "Unbelievable."

"What I want to know," Johnny put out his flames, looking over at Aidan irritably, "is how you stole my powers!"

Aidan frowned, "I did not steal your powers! For all I know, you could've stolen mine!"

"Excuse me? In case you didn't notice, I have my powers for over three years now!" Johnny retorted.

"And I have mine for over 24," Aidan replied, extinguishing the fire in her hand.

"Definitely didn't see that one coming," Ben chuckled as if watching a movie he had never seen before.

Johnny frowned, ignoring him, "24? But- You don't look much older than me."

"Exactly," Aidan said calmly, "I was born with my powers."

Silence fell in Reed's lab. Everyone's eyes were on the new girl.

"Born?" Sue repeated, abandoning her frustrated attitude.

Aidan nodded, averting her grey eyes from Johnny to his sister, "Yes."

"Don't tell me you're another one of those extraterrestrials with a mission to destroy our planet," Johnny scowled.

Aidan just rolled her eyes and sat down in the nearest chair.

"Johnny, I think it's for the best that we let her explain everything to us," Reed said, sitting back down himself.

Everyone waited in stillness for the story and Aidan took a deep breath, "My father was a pilot and my mother was a computer engineer. Both beyond great in their fields of work. Both employed by NASA," she started, "In 1979, they were sent on a mission into space together, along with two more people. Unfortunately, about 7 hours after their arrival a cosmic storm similar to that you've experienced hit their station. Two other members of the crew died, while my parents..."

"Developed powers," Reed finished.

"Yes," Aidan continued, "My mother developed the power of shape shifting. She could transform into anyone, anywhere, anytime. And my father became a cryokinetic."

"A what?" Ben was a little confused.

"He developed the power of creating and controlling ice," Aidan explained.

"So, the storm altered their DNA, just like in our case," Reed started thinking the story through, "And, since we all know that parents pass on their DNA to their children, they conceived you with already modified DNA."

"But that still doesn't explain how we have the same powers," Johnny interfered.

"No. It doesn't," Reed concurred, standing up and approaching the nearest computer, "Aidan, if you agree, I'd like to run some tests. It's impossible that you and Johnny have the same DNA, which leads me to believe that your powers **do **differ, we just have to figure out in what way."

Aidan grimaced, "I'll have to come here everyday?"

"Well, I was kind of thinking that you could move here, temporarily, until all tests are finished. It will take a couple of weeks," Reed said.

Aidan was clearly thinking about this proposal, chewing on her lip in the process.

"You can stay in my room," Johnny smirked.

Sue shot him a death glare.

"Or not..." he added.

"All right," Aidan answered finally, "I'll move in with you guys, just until these tests are done."

Reed smiled widely, "Great!"


End file.
